Big Game Hunting Battle of the Northway Inn: "No, you are the uncultured one!" Flint quipped, before suddenly the battleaxe came swinging towards him. Flint began to bring up his sword to parry the attack, but he was too slow. A look of shock crossed the Night Knight's face as the battleaxe struck him in the chest. Bryce attacks The Night Knight with battleaxe The Night Knight fails to Parry Bryce deals 80 damage with his battleaxe. This is reduce to 65 by the Night Knight's armour Flint fell to the ground. His chest was bruised intensely, he was pretty sure some ribs were broken, only his armour had prevented him being split in half. Dark spots flickered over his eyes as he slowly felt himself slipping into unconsciousness... the man had beaten him, and now he would have to help the idiot find some kind of fruit... not to mention he'd probably be arrested for the theft... as intense pain flared from the hit he closed his eyes and passed out Congratulations! You've beaten the Night Knight 1 Level 2 enemy Total Exp- "NO!" Flint slowly rose to his feet. His body ached like hell, but he was NOT going to go on a quest for some dragon fruit or whatever. Determination in his eyes, Flint would not go down so easily "I WILL beat you!" Although he could feel pain in every muscle resisting, he picked his sword back up. It would be so easy to surrender, to lie down in defeat. But Flint broke past that urge to fall down that all humans experienced at times of great pressure. He was determined. The Night Knight attacks Bryce with the Moon Blade Bryce fails to parry The Night Knight deals 102 damage. After armour this is reduced to 88. Bryce is knocked unconscious. Darklight Disturbance Not-Rayyad listened with a scowl. she did make a point though... maybe Rayyad was afraid... maybe he should try to understand his other half... he flinched as Tessa touched his cheek... she seemed so understanding... he gently took her hand in his own... "No" Not-Rayyad flung her across the dark ground. "No!" he exclaimed. Dark cobwebs were shot from the shadows, ensnaring Tessa and sticking her to the ground. "NO!" from the shadows appeared swarms of spiders of varying sizes, which surrounded Tessa "You have taught me something here Tessa, I will make Rayyad understand, I will make him aim for power and reclaim our kingdom! He will be another puppet on my strings, just like the ancient Webber Kings! All of them have served my whims!"
Galadorn smiled back at Kala and followed her to the little house away from the rest. It had been a long time since Galadorn had been in the city, he wasn't particularly comfortable amongst civilisation, so he was glad Kala's house was a bit more distant. Ducking his head as he entered Galadorn looked around, he felt as though an opinion was expected of him "It looks very nice. Cosy" he stated. He wasn't really sure what to say, he didn't have much experience of houses, as far as he could tell, there was nothing that made this one different to the others. "So. Where should I sleep?" he asked.
The not-Rayyad smirked "No creature deserves to be caged?" he conjured up more images, one showed a pair of glowing green eyes deep under the ocean, seemingly trapped. Another showed a man in a cold landscape, surrounded by grotesque creatures of ice, but trapped behind a great wall of mountains "I have a feeling that theory will be tested, Tessa" he walked forward menacingly "And what of me? Trapped inside a fool! Should I be let out? Should I be unleashed on the world?!" Not-Rayyad's eyes glowed green and his face was contorted into an expression of anger and hatred "I am the part of Rayyad that he fears, I am the Webber Prince! I am the part of him that desires power! For years he has oppressed me, but with the magic of the Binding Totem I have been brought forward, and I will reclaim my kingdom, for Azjol, for the Deciever!"
Darklight Disturbance The Mine Entrance, Darklight Caverns: After ensuring the spiders wouldn't attack them here, Rayyad knelt by Tessa who was being cradled by Conrad. He felt like a bit of a third wheel here. "The poison is infested with dark magic, it's intended to make a victim unconscious, so the spiders can... eat them. Luckily we got here in time. The poison actually doesn't do much else, there isn't much to worry about... although... it may give her a slight case of terrifying nightmares" Rayyad cleaned up the bite and bandaged her hand "There's nothing much we can do for her, but she should be fine when she wakes up" Rayyad looked back into the cave "I should have warned her... there are much worse things down there..." The girl was falling, falling down a dark chasm in the realm of nightmares. In the shadows there flickered shapes, horrific, grotesque creatures. She saw images of an armoured man with long white hair, Conrad, reaching out for her, before he was swallowed by darkness. She saw two images of Rayyad, battling each other in a desperate attempt to gain dominance over the other. She saw a ship, sailing a dark stormy sea, at the prow stood a masked figure with long flowing hair and accompanied by a bird. One eye could be seen under the mask, and it looked at the girl studiously. Just as the figure was about to remove its mask, the sea suddenly twisted and thrashed, huge shadowy tentacles of water, an extension of the sea itself, rose up and grasped the ship. The image was gone before the girl could see the outcome. Many more images flashed by her as she accelerated towards the bottomless depths, before she landed with a thud. "Can you handle the secrets that lie in the shadows?" a voice called out. A figure stepped forward, he looked like Rayyad but... different. It was as though the body of Rayyad had been taken over by a different consciousness, this version moved with authority and purpose instead of anxiety and uncertainty "The future is a fickle thing, like the darkness, it shies away when we try to shine a light on it" Big Game Hunting Northway Inn: Flint blinked "What's a dragon fruit?" he then shook his head and decided to stop wasting time "CHARGE!" he began to run towards Bryce... very slowly... dragging his sword... reeeeaallly slowly. "I'll get you! Just you wait!" eventually he did arrive at Bryce, but didn't have enough AP time to do anything else as he faced off the warrior. "So... you're defending the village against this assassin... who may be attempting to kill... 'Duke Rention'" Shyra could not believe the stupidity of this man, or how cocky Kara and Laurentinus must have been. However, she was not averse to deciet and would not enlighten this man to how thoroughly he got tricked. Oh how embarassed he would be to discover that "Duke Rention" was nothing more than an ex-city guard, and as funny as that would be, she didn't want Ren getting arrested any time soon. "Indeed, good lady. The Hirokiri are slippery, but we believe this one is based in the Darklight caves" Lord Galaharram stated with certainty "Ah. Well I suppose we should go arrest this 'assassin' before he does anything else, I do believe he's kidnapped some of my recruits" "Arrest? No my good lady, I'm going to kill that man myself!" Arval stated with purpose "The Hirokiri have no business in Tyrrus, and we are at war after all, no mercy in war" "I see. Whatever the case I'm going to get our carriage and gather up my recruits, meet me by the cave entrance" "Who are you to give me orders...." Arval begun indignantly, but withered under the intimidating stare from Shyra. If looks could kill... Arval didn't even want to think about what would happen "...very well. Madam" Arval bowed, wondering why he was bowing to someone who had no apparent authority, and backed away to go find a horse.
Galadorn considered what Kala was asking him. Normally he just slept in the woods, his wild half meant he was never uncomfortable among the trees. And he was sure he could defend himself. Just as he was about to reply, stating that he was fine, it hit him. She wasn't asking this just for practicality's sake, that much was obvious. Why did she want him to stay with her? He wasn't about to complain about it, he just wondered. "...yes" Galadorn replied. He hadn't interacted with other people in a long time until yesterday, social protocol was confusing. "It would be a nice change from the woods, and I would like to stick with you for a while longer" Galadorn held his hand out as a bird approached and the small creature landed on his finger. Gently he stroked it, before sending it on its way "Yes. Very well, take me to your house"
"Don't remember me, eh?" Solomon giggled "Oh this will be fun then. I lead you to sanctuary, remember?" Solomon waved his hand and the revenants cut a swathe through dopplers in unison "And you and that boy, together, you massacred a whole group of them. It was beautiful" Solomon moved his hands like a conductor as his undead battled with the dopplers. He'd lost the element of surprise now so the dopplers were fighting back, but they were struggling to bring down an enemy that did not bleed. "Then yesterday, you came to me again, I offered you an army, and you accepted. You need my help" he then looked at the other witcher who was talking to him "Indeed, I am Solomon, it seems my reputation precedes me. Would you like an autograph?" Solomon chuckled "You seem like an angry man Derrick..." It was time for Solomon to have a little fun. Without a word or gesture Solomon gazed into Derrick's soul, and when he saw the man beneath he decided to... tamper. Solomon fueled the darkness within Derrick's heart, causing the man to become more aggressive and angry than normal. He was taunting the witcher, he wanted to see how far the man would go, how far he could bend him before he broke. The dopplers didn't answer his demands, they clearly had too much faith in their glorious leader. So Vyle just murderspreed some more until I figure out what to do with him :/
The spider hissed, and bit Tessa's outstretched hand. Tessa takes 17 damage and is poisoned Rayyad arrived at the caves to see Tessa bitten "Tessa!" he yelled in surprise "Stay back! Those are darkweavers! Their poison will make you faint!" he warned. He needed to save her, his eyes glowed green again and he shouted at the spiders "STAY BACK!" the spiders backed away into the darkness. Rayyad walked towards Tessa cautiously "Hey, are you okay?" "RIGHT!" Flint held out his sword in front of him, pointing at Bryce "One versus one! Honourable combat! If you win, you get your money back and, I don't know, I'll give you something nice I guess? If I win, which is far more likely, then I get to keep the money aaaand..." Flint eyed up the man's armour set "... you have to give me your helmet. Sound like a wager?"
Nick nodded and followed Brianne. When they arrived at the institute Nick looked down. Blood. Oh dear. Hendrick's blood. ****. Nick stood between Roxanne and Hendrick, he had to deal with the mad woman before anything else. He grabbed her by the arm, trying to be gentle but also insistingly pulling her towards the library. She struggled against him and he had to use his limited strength, but eventually he got them into the library and locked the door. Who would have done such a thing to Hendrick? That was a lot of blod, Nick was beginning to feel a bit sick. "Hey, hey, calm down, it's fine, Brianne will deal with it" he tried to calm down Roxanne "It's all... going to be... fine" he didn't believe his own words, and he wasn't good at dealing with people.
Rayyad sulked sulkingly. He'd thought he'd found some friends, but they just had to run away when he threatened to imprison them. Honestly, some people. So what if he lied? He just wanted to get out, maybe then he could escape the part of him he hated. No. This part of me will always stay, this is the true me, I am the Webber Prince. Momentarily Rayyad's eyes glowed green I should go down into the mines, my destiny awaits with Azjol. The caverns... the caverns... there's somebody there... Tessa! Rayyad shot up suddenly. Tessa was going into the caverns alone! Didn't she understand? It was dangerous! For once, The Webber Prince's telepathic powers had worked to his advantage, he had sensed her presence by the cave mouth, surrounded by danger. Suddenly Rayyad noticed Conrad coming back, he quickly ran over to the man, arms waving "Conrad, Conrad! We have to go help Tessa! She's gone to the mines alone! That's where the spider nests are, they'll attack her! They're super territorial!" he said nervously Meanwhile at the mine entrance The spiders hissed as Tessa approached, two dark spiders approached with glowing red eyes, they did not look particularly friendly and began to approach DM Message for Kara and Laurentinus You have arrived at the main cave mouth, it is big and dark and imposing. Much like Laurentinus's-*shot*
Requiem got up, he was injured, but he could not return to Ashleigh without Veera. Timothy went into battle mode again as Ms Kala was attacked, he rushed forwards, arms charging up, only to have his attack interrupted "Excuse me?" he cried out as Requiem blocked his way. The metal monstrosity was heavy and had a lot of momentum, it was exceedingly difficult to stop him, but digging his feet into the ground he managed to slow down the robot. A metallic punch was lobbed towards him and Requiem ducked out of the way. But Timothy had two fists and the other smacked him in the back, knocking him to the floor. But Requiem would not go down so easily, he got up again and stood his ground "Could you please move out of the way" Timothy demanded, this guy was simply not going down. Timothy grabbed the man's polearm and tossed it away, he punched the musical solider again and again with hydraulic fists, landing blow after blow on the man's face and chest. Requiem could not dodge the quick succession of blows that rained upon him, each punch was as if he was hit by a train, the blows made resounding noises as they hit his metal armour which buckled and dented under the sheer force applied. He felt bones fracturing, he could barely stand, but he had to protect Veera. For Ashleigh.
Nick listened quietly and nodded "I see. So it's a big deal" he surmised "What if it's all a trick to get the downworlders to fight us? We should go check if the cup is still there" he suggested.
Vyle rushed to Ana's side as she woke up and grasped her hand gently. "Very well" he reluctantly conceded. He turned to the mage with a pleading expression "Please, keep her safe" with one last look at Ana he leaped out of the window and landed in the centre of a group of dopplers. In one swift movement he took out a pair of silver knives and spun around, slashing at the surrounding dopplers. He dodged a sword thrust and flicked his knives towards two closest dopplers. They landed square in their foreheads, killing them instantly. Taking out another pair of knives he threatened the crowd "Where is Bryce?" he hissed. They didn't answer "didn't you hear me? WHERE IS BRYCE?! Don't make me ask again!" The dark parade moved down the streets slowly, an army of revenants marching for their puppetmaster, getting bigger and bigger as it went on. The more who died, the bigger Solomon's army grew, and they all marched as a silent, emotionless vanguard ahead of Solomon himself, who skipped merrily along. The revenants, who had now doubled in numbers, bolstered by the dead townspeople and dopplers, approached the area that contained the three witchers. "Yoohoo!" Solomon called, his dark vanguard clearing a path for him "Veera! You didn't tell me you'd started the fun early! Although I must say I'm having a wonderful time!" Solomon rested his hands on his staff and leaned forward with a manic smile "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" Archon wiped his mouth with a handkerchief "I was thinking, Annabelle, that after breakfast I could perhaps get you started on some education and training" remembering Anna's past he hastily added "Not the way that horrible woman did, I mean training in how to be a royal princess, you must keep up appearances after all" This was partly true, in fact Archon was more interested in indoctrinating her first and filling her with his own philosophies and views, if she was going to be his heir she'd better be his legacy.
Galadorn was surprised as she hugged him, he had never (or at least, he didn't remember) being this close to someone else before. Galadorn hesitated, then returned the embrace, gently stroking her head. It seemed she didn't need to be protected from anybody but herself "I will find a way" Galadorn stated with determination "I will try as hard as I can to keep you safe and happy. I don't care how hard it may be, a long time ago I pledged to protect all those I cared about" he stared directly into her eyes with compassion "And... I definitely care about you. So give me a way, give me an opening. Just tell me what I can do"
Damian was hesitant to leave Florica's side, but he trusted this doctor, he seemed like a professional man. Damian wished he could stick around and chat with the doctor about medicine, see how much he knew, but the man was busy and Damian needed to return to the others. As he returned, he found them discussing family matters "Uh, Hi guys. Florica seems to be in good hands. What's going on?"
Nick graciously took Brianne's stele and began to apply a healing rune on Roxanne, with difficulty "So, uh, what are we going to do about this "mortal cup" thing? Sounds important" Nicholas asked. He traced out the healing rune carefully, nervous about getting it done well "Uh, is that okay? Sorry if it's a bit bad" Masque hissed with hatred as the fairy's suicide was interrupted by a newcomer. She was on the verge of becoming a masterpiece, such defiance broken down by his poison, to the point where she decided she would take her life on her own terms. It would have been beautiful "Rabid dog? That implies my killings are not co-ordinated, that implies my killings are messy. My killings are artwork. We shall meet again Warlock, and when we do, I shall make you perfect" Masque called out from the bush. Before leaving and wandering further into the woods.
Ran was suddenly tackled by the guards, damnit, it seemed the blue button did nothing. Fumbling with the crystal as he fell, he attempted to press the red button desperately. Ran closed his eyes as his thumb pressed the red button. Here goes nothing... Requiem was doomed, he was sure. The creature's screams drowned out his own high pitched notes of fear, what was this creature? "Anthem, assist Requiem" Ashleigh murmured into her earpiece. She then turned back to Ms Spooks. "Let me tell you the nature of this war, Ms Spooks. It is a war of spite. A war between the descendants of two men who had a little disagreement. It is also a war of vengeance, each side wishing for revenge against the other. It is a pointless war and given a choice, I would not contribute. I have very little power to stop this war, so I join in. I am not in this war out of spite or vengeance. I am in this war for the express purposes of ending it, but if we sue for peace against the shards they will not accept it. Therefore, the best way to end this war is to win" Ashleigh stated "However, there may be another way. I will introduce you to Jayce. Discuss this war with him, once he denies your pleas for peace, come back to me" As soon as Anthem heard the order, he nodded in compliance, and left the room at a sprint. Running down the stairs within the tower he eventually reached a low level window and leaped out of it, hitting the ground running. In the distance, the conflict could be seen raging as a strange creature assaulted his brother in arms. Timothy was not sure what to do. His programming demanded that he protect his mistress, but what of the man she was attacking? What could he do? Wait a second, who was that in the distance? Another one? This was getting dangerous, Ms Kala could not stay "Ms Kala, I demand you calm down and we leave immediately"
Galadorn smiled at the woman "Honestly, I have no idea how I do that. It's just something I've had as long as I remember. I have an extended lifespan, but a shortened memory, I cannot remember my childhood, or any way of I could have come across this magic. Maybe I can do other things, and I've simply forgotten" He detected a hint of sadness about her, her eyes, her voice, her body language, all of it revealed hidden underlying emotions that she did not wish to show. "Hey, are you okay? You seem... sad... and angry" Galadorn, whose very nature involved protecting humans and magical beings, could not refrain from trying to find out what Kala was so upset about "Do not be sad, little mare, I can, and I will, protect you from anything"
Vyle sat up abruptly. Right, he was lying on the floor, his arm was bandaged fortunately... somehow. By the gods, he owed Derrick a massive favour. "Apologies, my friend" Vyle stated without expression "For bursting in so abruptly" Vyle stood up straight and smoothed out his coat. Looking out of the window at what Derrick was so enthralled by, Vyle saw chaos on the streets. "The dopplers appear to be rebelling" Vyle pointed out. He watched with hatred as dopplers on the streets murdered townspeople indiscriminately... This.... this was unforgivable. Vyle was about to vault out of the window and begin slaughtering dopplers there and then... but... Ana was not safe here. Vyle was torn, on the one hand he'd pledged to help the witchers... on the other... this was Ana. Turning to Derrick he made a decision "I'm going to take Ana to a safe place, then I'll return to help" Willow ducked and wove amongst the crowd as their glorious leader Bryce rallied his troops. Today was the day, today was the day the dopplers would strike back. Willow was not being paid for this, why was she doing it? Patriotism? Revenge? Whatever the case, she could see it becoming a lot of fun. As the horde charged into the city Willow clambered to the rooftops and scouted out the situation. The horde of dopplers passed the abandoned orphanage by, mostly. They were too busy killing the inhabitants of occupied buildings. However, one doppler stopped by the building, and cautiously entered. The shapeshifter waved a sword around as if he knew how to use it. The orphanage was dark, no traces of life within. Deciding it wasn't worth it, the doppler turned to leave "Hey, don't leave so soon" The doppler was startled by this mysterious voice "Has the fun started then? Well, I better get started" screams could be heard from the orphanage, as a terrible fate befell the doppler. A moment later, a black clad mage opened the door. A group of dopplers stopped, and stared "There's one! Get 'im!" they yelled, taken over by the bloodlust of battle "Oh no, I don't think so. Meet some of my friends" Sololomon tapped his foot, and behind him approached several pale figures, one of them the doppler who'd entered the building. As the undead creatures stared with glowing blue eyes, the dopplers began to realise they'd made a mistake. But it was too late. With a horrifying screech, the creatures lunged forward with undying fury. The dopplers tried to fight back, but they were caught off guard and had no idea how to fight these creatures, who moved with far more vigour than they'd ever had in life. The smallest child leaped up onto one of the doppler's heads and began viciously tearing at the man's face, gouging the man's eyes and pulling at his hair. Two of the undead children mobbed a doppler and ripped the man to shreds. When Solomon was done, very little was left of the group, and what was left was risen up as more minions for Solomon's army. "I feel like I'm going to have a lot of fun" Solomon rubbed his hands gleefully. Archon walked into the dining room with elegance and poise, guiding Annabelle by the hand "Breakfast, dear Anna?" Archon gestured to the elegantly laid out table... Bramwell stood at the back of the army, gazing out upon the battlefield. These dopplers, they were creatures of hatred and spite, seeking vengeance. They murdered indiscriminately... what could they do about this? Was there anything they could do? They had to defend the city, this was not about politics anymore, this was about lives. But... Archon had demanded they would not interfere unless he ordered otherwise. ...Archon took a large serving of bacon and eggs, and gave some food to Annabelle "Eat up darling, I suppose you're not used to such good food"... Sylvi stood silently in the alley, invisible. What the dopplers were doing was simply horrible, murdering innocents who didn't know any batter. The guards were the only smart ones here, they knew they couldn't face the horde. Sylvi wished she could do something, anything, to stop the slaughter. Archon should have sent in an army, he should have protected the city better, he knew this was happening why didn't he do anything? Sylvi watched with horror as a doppler cut down a group of people. ...Archon cut into a hash brown and munched on it calmly. He knew what was happening, but his plans did not involve interfering at the moment. There was movement around the palace, undoubtedly the battle had begun. Archon simply sipped his tea calmly.
Rayyad was shocked as Tessa and Conrad walked away and berated him for his actions "Wha... but... You can't judge me! You have no idea what it's been like!" Rayyad's lip trembled as Tessa ran away, calling him a liar. He was on the verge of tears, just when he thought he'd found friends... "Fine! Leave! Both of you! I don't care! I'll find the totem myself! Good luck finding your way out, because I'm not helping you!" Rayyad threw a tantrum and began to walk away. He didn't need them, they didn't understand... but they could protect him... he needed someone.
Because it's my fault you were taken, because I need you to help me catch Solomon, because... in truth, Vyle did not know the answer to Teliana's question, but fortunately he didn't have to answer. Vyle landed a short distance outside the city and transformed back into a human, he would carry her the rest of the way. There had to be somewhere nearby he could take her, he did not know where Derrick or Veera had gone, or those dopplers. He had to get Ana to a place of safety, and he didn't have any money on him... Well once again he felt himself relying on others, Derrick had probably taken an inn room for now... perhaps... it was a long shot but he had to try and find the witchers. By the gods, he was going to owe them a massive favour. He burst into a random inn near where he'd first found Derrick "Greetings, is there a witcher staying here? No? Very well" the second place to try would be an inn near the abandoned warehouse "Greetings, is there a witcher staying here? Upstairs? Thank you my good man" Vyle knew he was drawing glances from around the room, it wasn't every day a man walked in carrying an unconscious woman, both of them bleeding pretty badly. Vyle burst into Derrick's room "... Good news" he stated. He was aware of how strange he looked right now, but he didn't care, he just wanted to help Ana. Without waiting for Derrick to respond Vyle placed Ana on the bed. Suddenly, without the adrenaline of trying to find safety, Vyle felt tired... so tired... he hadn't felt this tired in a long time... also he was losing blood... lots of blood... was his jacket red before?... no... "Oh... I'm sorry" abruptly, Vyle fainted, and landed heavily on the floor.
